


A (Slight) Wrinkle In Time

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2016 [18]
Category: Merlin (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:38:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7058632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Merlin, Arthur Pendragon/Merlin, A Wrinkle in Time."</p><p>Merlin and Arthur fall through a slight wrinkle in time and land in Avalon. Possibly in another universe. In time to be discovered by most of the new SG-1. Episode Tag to Avalon Part 1 on SG1</p>
            </blockquote>





	A (Slight) Wrinkle In Time

"Run, Merlin, now!"  
  
"No, I can save us, I just –"  
  
Arthur lunged, tried to run the soldier through with his sword. Merlin caught his arm, yanked him backward, and no, _no_ , the enemy was upon them. The world turned blue, blinding bright, and Arthur had to close his eyes, and then –  
  
Darkness.  
  
Were they dead? No. Arthur could still feel Merlin's hand on his arm.  
  
"What happened?" Arthur asked.  
  
"Er...I'm not exactly sure."  
  
Arthur knew that tone. It was the _I tried to use magic to do your laundry and now it's all purple_ tone. "What did you try to do?"  
  
"Get us to safety."  
  
"And you accomplished that by...blinding us?" Arthur shifted his feet. They were standing on dirt. The air smelled damp. They'd been outdoors not moments before.  
  
"By wishing really hard?"  
  
"Is that a question or an answer?"  
  
"I don't know what I did."  
  
"You're the one with magic."  
  
"I know!" Merlin snapped, then added an apologetic, "Sire. Look, my magic just _does_ things sometimes, when I'm scared or nervous –"  
  
"Or bored or drunk."  
  
"Okay, fine, it reacts to my emotions," Merlin said. Arthur was glad he could still feel Merlin's hand on his, because it meant he definitely wasn't alone. "I wished us somewhere safe, and now we're somewhere safe."  
  
"Somewhere we have no clue where that has absolutely no light at all." Merlin's definition of safe rather left something to be desired.  
  
"Give me a moment. I can conjure a –"  
  
The sound of rock grinding against rock startled them both. A vertical sliver of light appeared an arm's length in front of them, and then it widened. And widened. Arthur shifted into a fighting stance, raised his sword in one hand, shoved Merlin behind him with the other.  
  
They were in a stone cavern of sorts with a raised altar on the far end. The grinding sound was a section of the wall sliding back, some type of door. Torches flamed to life.  
  
And there, in the doorway, were four people: three men and a woman. One man was massive, tall, and dark-skinned like Tom Smith, but he had a curious golden tattoo on his forehead. The second man was shorter, slighter, with brown hair and blue eyes and spectacles. The third man was of a similar height and coloring, but without spectacles; brothers, perhaps? And the woman was slender, black-clad, beautiful. All of them were wearing strange, outlandish clothes.  
  
The bespectacled man said something completely incomprehensible.  
  
"Do you recognize that language? What land are we in?" Arthur whispered, not taking his gaze off of the strangers.  
  
The strangers were gazing at him and Merlin in awe.  
  
"I don't know," Merlin said, and then, "hang on." He murmured a spell, and suddenly the incomprehensible babbling became crystal clear.  
  
"–Dressed like a medieval knight and peasant," the bespectacled one was saying.  
  
"Medieval?" the woman asked.  
  
"The era in history where Merlin and Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are from," the bespectacled one's brother said.  
  
"History?" Arthur demanded. "And have you always been able to do that? Have I suffered needlessly through poor translating skills all this time?"  
  
"Er –" Merlin began. "I think we might have fallen into a slight...wrinkle in time."  
  
"Hello!" The bespectacled man raised his hands from the strange black contraption he had strapped to his chest. "My name is Daniel Jackson. We're peaceful explorers, and we have come seeking the knowledge of the Ancients."  
  
"Do we look Ancient to them?" Arthur demanded.  
  
Daniel Jackson blinked, frowned. "Odd. Most Ancients speak a variant of Latin, but that was definitely Old English. Of course, Merlin may well have adapted to the language of Arthur and his men for convenience sake."  
  
"I think he means 'Ancients' as in some sort of foreigners, not our age," Merlin said. "How do they know our names?"  
  
"They say we are from history. Obviously we're famous and our brave and noble deeds have been handed down through the ages," Arthur said. He lowered his sword and bowed. "Hello! I am Prince Arthur Pendragon. This is my loyal servant, Merlin –"  
  
"If we're from history, shouldn't they know what we look like?" Merlin asked. He cleared his throat. "Just how far forward in time are we?"  
  
"DanielJackson, did the warrior not just say _Arthur_ and _Merlin?_ " asked the dark-skinned man.

Daniel Jackson's face lit up. "Yes he did. If only my Old English weren't so rusty." He frowned, brow furrowed in concentration.  
  
Merlin murmured another spell under his breath, his eyes flashing golden briefly, and then the woman was aiming her black contraption at him.  
  
"He's Goa'uld!" she cried.  
  
"What?" But Daniel Jackson was also aiming his black contraption at both of them. Those contraptions had to be some kind of weapon. Arthur couldn't tell what kind. His best guess was a projectile weapon. He readied his sword.  
  
"His eyes flashed golden," the dark-skinned man said, his voice deep and dangerous.  
  
Merlin raised his hands just as Daniel Jackson had moments before. "We mean you no harm. My name is Merlin, and this is Arthur Pendragon. We're just popping by for a bit of a breather between assassination attempts, and we'll be on our way."  
  
"Ancients have been able to speak English when it suits them, right?" Daniel Jackson's brother was also aiming a weapon at them.  
  
"Merlin, do you mean to say that all this time, you've been able to speak and understand any language through magic?"  
  
"Yes, sire."  
  
"Can you make them understand me?"  
  
Merlin murmured more magic in response, and the woman cried, "See! His eyes."  
  
"Greetings," Arthur said, as politely and formally as he could muster. "We mean you no harm. I am Prince Arthur Pendragon, and this is Merlin, son of Hunith, my loyal servant. We are here due an unfortunate chronological mishap, and we will be departing as soon as Merlin figures out how to use his own magic."  
  
Merlin scowled at him. "I can use my magic, thanks. I was born with it."  
  
"I've never heard of Goa'uld posing as Ancients before," Daniel Jackson said. "But there's a first time for everything."  
  
"We are not posing as anyone or anything," Arthur said firmly. "As I stated, we are only here briefly, and we apologize for any way in which we might have disturbed you."  
  
Merlin said, "When are we?"  
  
Daniel Jackson's brother blanched. "When? Since when can Goa'uld time travel?"  
  
"It's the year 2005," said Daniel Jackson, "although that may not mean anything to you if you reckon time differently than we do."  
  
"Is magic legal yet?" Merlin asked, and Arthur winced.  
  
"...There's no such thing as magic," Daniel Jackson said.  
  
It was Merlin's turn to wince. "So, I might not have just caught us in a time wrinkle. I might also have caught us in a universal one. Maybe a dimensional one."  
  
"What's a universe?" Arthur asked. He suspected the answer was something that would give him a headache.  
  
"So, maybe they're not Goa'uld," Daniel Jackson's brother said.  
  
Merlin grabbed Arthur's arm again. "It was lovely meeting you. Time for us to go."  
  
And the world went blinding blue and bright, and they were standing in Arthur's chambers at the castle, and there wasn't a great explanation for that, but at least they were safe.  
  
Finally, Arthur could sheath his sword. "Thank you for saving us, Merlin. But let's not go wrinkling time again anytime soon, all right?"  
  
"All right." Merlin heaved a sigh of relief. "I have to say, though. We must do well together. If we're remembered so far in the future, not just in our universe, but in another one."  
  
"We must," Arthur agreed. He wondered if, in the future, magic was made legal, and if he was ever able to tell Merlin the truth about their relationship. And if Merlin could ever love him back.


End file.
